According to recent research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology, compared with people who slept for longer or shorter periods, those who reported sleeping seven or eight hours a night had significantly less evidence of stiffness in their arteries, indicating a lower chance of developing heart disease or suffering a stroke.

Even after accounting for other known risk factors for heart disease or stroke, people who slept less than six hours or more than eight hours a night had significantly higher odds of having plaque buildup in the walls of their carotid arteries - a 54 percent and 39 percent increase, respectively - compared with those who got seven or eight hours of sleep. The study adds to mounting evidence that sleep patterns, similar to diet and exercise, may play a defining role in someone’s cardiovascular risk.

Unlike other heart disease risk factors such as age or genetics, sleep habits can be adjusted, and even after taking into consideration the impact of established risk factors for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases - for example, age, gender, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure and even a history of coronary artery disease - both short and long sleeping duration may act as additional risk factors.”

For this analysis, researchers assessed sleep patterns in 1,752 people using a standard questionnaire that was fielded by a trained cardiologist, primary care provider, or nurse. Participants were then divided into one of four groups based on self-reported sleep duration:

- regular (seven to eight hours a night),
- short sleep duration (six to seven hours a night),
- concise sleep duration (less than six hours a night) or
- long sleep duration (greater than eight hours a night).

Participants represented a broad spectrum of the general public, including healthy people as well as those with cardiovascular risk factors. They established heart disease, and most were from rural areas with less than 1,000-2,000 inhabitants. They ranged in age from 40 to 98 years, with a mean age of 64 years old.

At the time of the study, each participant also underwent ultrasound imaging to measure the thickness of the inner part of the arterial wall. The thickening of the arterial walls reflects plaque buildup and is associated with an increased risk of stroke and other cardiovascular events. Intima media thickness of >1.5 mm or protrusion >50 percent compared to nearby segments of the artery wall was defined as atherosclerotic plaque.

Researchers uncovered a U-shaped pattern between sleep duration and early indicators of atherosclerosis, which underscores the need for a balanced sleep pattern. Intima media thickness and plaque build-up in the artery walls were higher in both the shorter and longer sleep duration groups as compared to typical sleep duration.

Researchers said that adopting a balanced sleep pattern of six to eight hours nightly may be just what the doctor ordered.  It seems that this amount of sleep may act as an additive cardioprotective factor among people living in modern western societies, and there can be other health benefits to getting sufficient and quality sleep.

Further research is needed, primarily to determine whether too much sleep is harmful.

References
- American College of Cardiology, March 18, 2020, “Getting Too Little - or Too Much - Sleep May Be Bad for the Heart,” by Katie Glenn.  ⓒ 2020 American College of Cardiology Foundation.  All rights reserved.

To view this article, please visit:
https://www.acc.org/about-acc/press-releases/2020/03/18/08/30/getting-too-little-or-too-much-sleep-may-be-bad-for-the-heart

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The biggest causes of shortened life expectancy for 30-year-old men are smoking and diabetes. Smoking takes 6.6 years and diabetes 6.5 years out of their life expectancy. Now new research shows that being under heavy stress shortens their average life expectancy by 2.8 years.

These results are based on a study in which researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare calculated the effects of multiple risk factors, including lifestyle-related ones, on the life expectancy of men and women.

The study also revealed that a lack of exercise sharply reduced the life expectancy of 30-year-old men - by 2.4 years. On the other hand, things such as the consumption of plenty of fruits and vegetables could increase life expectancy: eating fruit by 1.4 years and eating vegetables by 0.9 years.

The same factors impacted the life expectancy of both men and women. For 30-year-old women, e.g., smoking shortened the life expectancy by 5.5 years, diabetes by 5.3 years, and substantial stress by 2.3 years.

The effects on the life expectancy of older people were similar but smaller than in younger age groups.

In the case of stress, moderate levels seem to have the most positive effect depending on how individuals perceive it.  Specifically, the experience of stress increased the life expectancy if the person felt the amount of stress they were experiencing was approximately the same as what other people typically experienced - on the other hand, having more or less stress than that reduced their life expectancy.

The data collected was from men and women aged 25 to 74 using questionnaires and measurements. The rate of mortality was monitored from the end of 1987 to 2014.

Notably, the study found that the life expectancy of 30-year men and 30-year women was only 1.6 years based on the same lifestyle risk factor values. The difference between the sexes is just over five years, all 30-year-olds, and the difference between 1.6 years and five years comes down to women having healthier lifestyles than men.

Furthermore, the differences in the life expectancies of people with different levels of education were reasonably small when the other risk factor values were the same. However, earlier studies have discovered significant differences between the life expectancies of groups of people with different levels of education.

The lifestyle choices that increase mortality, such as smoking, heavy alcohol use, unhealthy diet, and lack of exercise, are most common in the population groups whose social position is the weakest. Implicitly, the life expectancy of the whole population could be improved significantly by helping men and people with a lower level of education make better lifestyle choices.

References
- BMJ Open, March 2020, Vol. 10, Iss. 3, Estimating Expected Life-Years and Risk Factor Associations with Mortality in Finland: Cohort Study,” by Tommi Harkanen, et al.  ⓒ 2020 BMJ Publishing Grout Ltd.  All rights reserved.

To view or purchase this article, please visit:
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/3/e033741.info